


Legally Blonde

by Silverhuntress



Series: Selective Genderswap [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Gen, Genderbending, Genderswap, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 6,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverhuntress/pseuds/Silverhuntress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko no Basket where Kise Ryouta is a girl. That's basically it. A series of ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kise and Kasamatsu Meet

The day Kasamatsu Yukio met Kise Ryouta he thought his basketball coach was trying to pick up a middle school girl.

Which to be fair, he kind of was just… not y’know like _that_.

Coach had been bragging about the storied program of Kaijou and his plans for the year, a companionable hand on her shoulder while his other gestured grandly at the future.

The girl smiled and Kasamatsu _swore_ he saw sparkles, “It sound very exciting, Takeuchi-san.”

Coach grinned broadly back at her, and this was officially _weird_. He coughed, loudly.

Coach turned, and his excitement morphed into pleasant surprise, “Kasamatsu! Perfect I was just going to swing by your class!”

Kasamatsu held up the note the principal’s office had sent to his homeroom, “I got a note that I should come to the gym for a prospective basketball student?” Who wasn’t even here yet by the look of things, he glanced at the girl, she didn’t seem worried or anything so, maybe it wasn’t what it looked like, or maybe she was used to it which Yukio _really_ didn’t want to think about.

Takeuchi nodded, “That’s right. I guess the office read my mind!” He chuckled jovially, “Anyway, Kise-san, this is Kasamatsu Yukio-san, he’s our point guard and team captain.”

Yukio nodded at her, she smiled and waved. He turned to Coach, “The office aid said something about special permission for a part-time job?”

Takeuchi’s eyes widened in remembrance, “Oh yeah, I think I left the terms in my office.” He headed to the door, “You two wait here, shoot some hoops, or something. I’ll be right back.”

Kasamatsu watched him leave in disbelief, “I can’t believe he’s being this disorganized about the whole thing.”

Kise-san tilted her head to the side in confusion, “Really? He seems to have a handle of things to me.” He bit back a retort about her not being the one Kaijou had to impress while she glanced around. “Where are the balls kept?” she asked.

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, “You want to play?”

She looked surprised at the question, “Of course.” Kasamatsu shrugged and made his way over to the storage closet, Kise-san followed, “Takeuchi-san said Kaijou is gunning for the Interhigh championship.”

He snorted as he pulled open the door. “We’re always gunning for the Interhigh championship,” he informed her grabbing a ball from the bin. His uniform wasn’t ideal, but then, neither was hers.

Acutally, “Erm…” he glanced meaningfully toward her hemline, “Are you sure?”

She nodded, “I’m wearing shorts.” At his nod, she continued, “Half-court?  First five points wins?”

“Why not?” They checked the ball one, twice, and she barreled past him for a dunk, knocking him flat on his ass as she did so.

He laid there on the court for a bit, winded, and listened to the basketball bounce away while she sauntered back into his field of vision and leaned over him smugly.

“So…,” he said, “you’re _that_ Kise-san…”

“I’m _that_ Kise-san,” she smirked back, and offered him a hand up. Kasamatsu took it, and the moment he was upright, he swatted her on the back of the head, and started in on a lecture about strategic fouling.

By the time Coach got back, the basketball had rolled into a corner, ignored in favor of the current lecture of players as a unit, not five one-on-one acts, and ‘I don’t care if you won the middle school tournament your own damn self, you have to prove yourself to start at Kaijou!’

Genta Takeuchi was saying his mental farewells to hosting a Generation of Miracles player when Kise turned on her heel and flounced toward him and gracefully accepted the papers with the terms the administration had drawn up in order to accommodate her modeling. She looked somewhat insulted, and so did Kasamatsu, and he’d been so sure the pair would get along…

So when she told him that she was looking forward to coming to Kaijou next year, he almost had a heart attack. She then turned to Kasamatsu, “I will be proving myself, Senpai, and I will be a regular.”

“We’ll see, freshman,” he told her, “everyone earns their spot around here.”

“That’s something you and Teikou have in common,” she assured him, and was gone in a flurry of blonde hair and left behind a lingering scent of apples, maybe a perfume.

Takeuchi glared at his student, “What did you do to her?”

Kasamatsu looked highly offended, “What?”

“She was all bubbles and smiles when I left, I come back and she looks ready to storm the enemy fortress!” he accused, “What did you do?”

“We played basketball! She dunked past me, a foul by the way, and I told her that kind of lone gunman crap wouldn’t fly on our team!”

Apoplectic he demanded, “Did you tell a member of the Generation of Miracles that she wasn’t going to start?”

“No one is guaranteed a starting position!” Kasamatsu bellowed back, “Including me! If she wants it, she’ll work for it! And besides, it got her to take us seriously!”

Genta blinked, “What do you mean take us seriously?”

Yukio shot him a withering look, “She was playing with us before, when we were yelling she said that ten other teams wanted her and she didn’t have to put up with my attitude. So I told her that was fine, we’d see her at Interhigh, _if_ she made it there, and beat her then.”

“And then what?”

Kasamatsu smiling was a scary thing sometimes; this was one of those times, “And then she got serious.”


	2. Midorima Starts to Notice Things He'd Really Rather Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takao points something out and Midorima wishes he'd kept it to himself.

The day Takao spotted one of Kise’s swimsuit ads was the day Midorima marked as the end of whatever blissful ignorance of childhood he had left. The point guard’s hand shot out to grab his arm and his voice was a little breathless, “Shin-chan, she… is that… when did  _that_  happen?”

 

Midorima glanced at the advertisement, he could see nothing unusual about it, and he gave Takao a dubious look. “When did  _what_  happen?”

 

“When did she get  _breasts_?”

 

Midorima’s reaction was similar to a cat being dropped in a bathtub, “WHAT?” he shrieked. Passerby began to murmur around them. Like watching some sort of horrific accident, his attention snapped back to Kise’s face… and then… lower…

 

And oh god when  _did_  that happen?

 

He berated Takao for a good long while about propriety, and how Kise was an opponent first not a love interest  _ever_. Takao frowned at him skeptically and wondered loudly how Midorima could have failed to notice such a lovely flower in his midst, and the Teikou Basketball Club was clearly a bunch of boors. Midorima scowled and insisted that to the Generation of Miracles, Kise was a teammate who had her own changing room, not a  _girl_.

 

It didn’t stop him from noting her figure when she decided to spy on Shuutoku under the guise of baiting Midorima by flirting with his team. And it certainly didn’t stop him from realizing just what was pressed against his back when she greeted him by leaping on him from behind and clinging stubbornly like a barnacle.

 

Takao watched knowingly and smirked at Midorima’s red-faced mortification as he tried to dislodge the girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Midorima and Kise have a really violent sibling-like relationship. I've got a few other interactions planned for them.
> 
> Like I said before, I'd love to get some con-crit on this universe, and I'm open to requests though I make no promises as to whether or not they'll make it into the canon of this AU.


	3. A Father Daughter Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mr. Kise and Ryouta have a moment and knock on the fourth wall.

When a man lives with four women, he guards his space jealously. In the daily life of Kise Yoshiro, this means that his portion of the master bedroom’s walk-in is sacred, as are his drawers in the dresser. Neither his daughters nor wife linger overlong in his self-cleaned office that always smelt of musky cedar to combat the distinctly floral scent that permeated the rest of the house.

The sanctity of the master bath however, is forever in jeopardy for the simple fact that he has three daughters and only two other bathrooms for the girls to use when primping in the morning.

Today it is Ryouta, thoughtfully leaning close enough to the mirror and crouched low enough that he can shave easily over her bowed head. She wordlessly passes him the electric razor over her shoulder when he enters and he grunts his thanks.

Yoshiro has half an eye on his baby girl as she pins her hair back and applies a frankly alarming number of cleansers and lotions to her face. He finishes his morning ablutions almost a full fifteen minutes before her but lingers, watching her move from the creams to the makeup. It seems to him that an awful lot of effort goes into looking like there was no effort at all. Yoshiro eyes his wife’s anti-aging cream, Emi’s styling mousse, and Ayako’s array of nail polish, and sighs. There really is no fighting it.

“Something wrong, Tou-chan?” Ryouta asks, deliberating over her blushes before finally picking one by no method that Yoshiro can discern.

He leans against the sparse counter left to him, “A man just feels awfully outnumbered around here, you know.”

She grins cheekily at him, “Most men wouldn’t complain about living with four beautiful women you know…”

“And I’m not complaining, I’m just saying, I feel outnumbered.”

“Did Ayako-nee-chan leave something pink in your office again?” she asked, brushing something shimmery across her eyelids.

“You were _supposed_ to have been a boy, you know,” he told her, almost accusingly.

“I know, Tou-chan,” she assures him patiently, reaching for her mascara now.

“Even the doctors thought you were going to be a boy!” That deceptive shadow made by the umbilical cord had every health professional fooled enough that Yoshiro and his wife hadn’t bothered discussing any girl names, had been calling their child Ryouta before _she_ had even been born.

“And Kaa-chan let you keep the name to make you stop crying,” Ryouta finished the story with a flourish, batting her finished eyes at the mirror, before moving onto her lips and another deliberation of products.

“I wasn’t crying,” he defended himself.

“Jii-chan filmed it,” she reminded him selecting a lip gloss seemingly at random, “I’ve seen the tape, you were crying.”

“It was a silly thing to cry over,” he admits, “And you know I love you, Ryou-chan...”

Ryouta started in with the curling iron, “But…”

“But why couldn’t you have just been a boy?”

She laughs at him, “What would being a boy change? It’s not like I can get much better athletically.”

“Well for starters, I’d worry about those teammates of yours less.”

“Eh?” her reflection blinks at him in the mirror, as she continues to curl her hair. “You worry about my teammates?” Then she laughed again, “Tou-chan you’re so funny!”

And okay, based on what she’s said about him Yoshiro was starting to trust that senpai of hers (he’d trust the kid more if Ryouta weren’t so enamored with him), but Ryouta was still spending most of her time with boys rather than girls her own age. “Why couldn’t you have been born a boy, though?” he asks as she shakes her head to observe the way the loose curls fall in carefully constructed carelessness.

Ryouta smiles at him as she unplugs the iron and sets it aside to cool. She kisses him on the cheek as she leaves, “Because a boy just couldn’t handle being this pretty, Tou-chan.”

He laughs and ruffles her hair as she passes, despite her protests, “No, he couldn’t, could he?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to give Kise's siblings names. Emi is the oldest and the one who introduced Kise to modeling. Her name translates as beautiful picture, which is fitting for a model. I picture her as kind of sultry and a maneater. Ayako is an artist her specialty is fashion design and her hobby is nail art (her name can be translated to kimono design child). Ayako is bubbly and eccentric, she cried when Ryouta had to cut her nails for basketball.
> 
> Mr. Kise's name is a variant of Yoshirou, which translated to righteous son.


	4. Kise Visits Serin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise decides to pay Kuroko a visit before the Kaijou practice match.

Kasamatsu-senpai would be mad at her for skipping practice, but when Hayakawa-senpai had told her about the practice match the next day she knew she couldn’t just _wait_ to see Kurokocchi. They’d be on opposite sides, and that was not something Ryouta wanted.

She’d bring him to Kaijou, to a school that could actually use his talents, and if she was perfectly honest with herself… she’d bring him to her side so she’d _finally_ know what it felt like to play as Kurokocchi’s light.

She paused at Seirin’s gate, “Oh, wow, everything’s so shiny-looking… Guess that’s the advantage of going to a new school.” People were glancing at her, probably wondering what she was doing there. She adjusted her sunglasses, assuring herself that the large frames were hiding her face, and wishing she had some way to hide her distinctive hair.

After all, she hadn’t come to make a scene…

“Excuse me,” she asked the next student she came across, “what way to the basketball club?”

The girl cast a confused glance at her uniform, “Um, are you even supposed to be here?”

Kise folded her hands in a plea, “I’m here to see my boyfriend, actually; it’s kind of a surprise. Can you help me?”

She nodded sympathetically, “First year’s the hardest,” she agreed before pointing, “down this path, take the first right after the clock tower, pass two other turn-offs and it’s on your left. You’ve gone too far if you hit the soccer field.”

Ryouta beamed and the sympathy turned to surprise. “Thank you!” she chirped, preparing to dash off.

“Hold on!” the girl cried. Kise paused. “Do I know you?” she asked.

Crap. Feigning confusion, she waved off the question, “Me? Oh no. I just have one of those faces… I get that a lot actually.”

The surprise turned to recognition, “I _do_ know you, you’re Kise-“

Ryouta dashed off.

So much for not causing a scene…

\----

The rest of the team trickled out of the locker-room and into the gym proper, but Tetsuya paused in the hallway. By chance, he’d glanced to the left and caught sight of a familiar figure in an unfamiliar uniform approaching him.

“Kise-san?” he asked. How odd that she would arrive the very day that he’d been quizzed by Kagami-kun on her strength, compared to the rest of the Generation of Miracles.

She smiled at him, as radiant as ever, perching a pair of oversized sunglasses on top of her head as she walked. “Kurokocchi! It’s so good to see you!”

“Kise-san, what are you doing here?”

She came to a stop before him, leaning a bit to look him closer in the eye, “Well~ when I found out that we’re going to be having a practice match against you, I just got so excited I couldn’t wait to see you!”

“That was unnecessary; you’re skipping practice to see me. Your team can’t be happy about that.”

She gusted a dramatic sigh, straightening up and folding her hands behind her head, “Mou, Kurokocchi’s always so serious… can’t you just be happy that your girlfriend came to see you?”

He blinked at her, “I suppose I could, if I had a girlfriend.”

“So mean!” She wailed, stomping a foot childishly and wringing her hands. “Kurokocchi, you’re so cold. How can you break hearts without even trying?”

“You do it all the time,” he pointed out.

Kise sniffed at him, “That’s entirely different.” She pouted.

“Oh?”

“They don’t know me,” she pointed out, “and they don’t actually care about me. Those boys are in love with an idea, that’s not breaking hearts.”

Kuroko nodded, “I suppose that’s fair. A person can’t truly love someone they don’t know.”

Ryouta looked thoughtful, posed in a deliberate thinking stance, gaze focused upward with one finger tapping her chin, “I suppose by that logic you can’t break my heart then…”

A minute frown crossed the invisible man’s face, _She doesn’t give up that easily…_ he thought. “How do you mean, Kise-san?”

Gone was the bubbly wide-eyed Kise, her gaze was sharp as she attacked, “Well, no one _dreamed_ that you would have abandoned us like you did. So, none of us knew you at all.”

Kuroko turned away from her, “I did what I had to.”

“You always do,” she agreed with yet another sigh, leaning against the wall, “thing is, no one understood why you thought you had to. We missed you, Kurokocchi.” She watched his fists clench. “And we _really_ don’t get why you’d come to a no-name school like this.” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I mean, do you honestly think that they can make the most of your abilities? There’s no one here who can be the light you need.” She told him, pushing away from the wall to plant herself firmly before him, “Sure you might get them past a few rounds of the tournament but you can’t make diamonds out of coal.”

Kuroko stared at her. “Kise-san… did you even pass your entrance exams?”

She blinked at him in surprise, “Eh? What does that have to do with anything!?”

“Diamonds _are_ made out of coal, Kise-san.”

“Whaa-!? Really?!”

“A diamond is pure carbon, as is coal, the difference is a diamond has been under considerable heat and pressure. If Seirin is coal, I believe that our opponents will forge us into diamond soon enough.” His gaze was determined as she’d ever seen it, “We will be the best in Japan, Kise-san, and I’m sorry but you’re wrong about my light, just like you’re wrong about Seirin.”

She couldn’t help it, she squealed, “Uwah, Kurokocchi, you’re always so cool!”

The door to the gymnasium burst open, and Aida Riko stormed into the hallway, “Kuroko-kun! Practice is-“ she caught sight of Kise and stopped dead. The two girls stared at each other for a moment before the coach got her bearings, “what the hell is _she_ doing here? We just chased off a bunch of your fanboys!” She accused.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” she apologized, embarrassed, “I wasn’t trying to cause a scene, the girl I asked for directions wound up recognizing me…”

The coach fumed for a moment before boldly announcing, “I don’t care, get out of my gym.”

It was not often that someone managed to surprise Kise-san into silence. Kuroko decided to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riko didn't know it, but she made a friend that day.


	5. Kasamatsu Senses Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise skips practice and Kasamatsu senses a disturbance in the Force.

Kasamatsu hadn’t known Kise for very long, but over his lifetime he’d honed a fine sense of when Trouble was looming.

Ever since Kise had joined the basketball team as its first and probably only female member, Trouble tended to wear an un-tucked uniform blouse that rode up to expose a tempting strip of skin every time she stretched, and a never ending array of patterned thigh-high stockings.

He glanced around the gym, doing a headcount and came up short. “Where the hell is Kise?” he demanded.

Moriyama glanced around, “I’m sure she’s just running late. Oi, Hayakawa! You saw Kise earlier, right?”

Landing heavily from catching a rebound, Hayakawa yelled frantically, “She was all fired up for the match!”

“Then why isn’t she here!?” Yukio demanded angrily.

Kobori spoke up, “I saw her on her way out, she said something about stealing a player.”

“What?” he asked, “There’s nobody worth stealing at Seirin! We would have heard about it!” They’d heard about Iron Heart last year, if only because the high school leagues considered it a colossal waste. But there would be no way Kiyoshi Teppei was back in playing form yet.

Kobori shrugged, “That’s what she said.”

Kasamatsu threw a mental fit over the ditched practice, and planned the extra laps and drills Kise would be doing to make it up to him. The team didn’t need this kind of shit, _still_ he admitted to himself _if there_ is _somebody worth stealing…_

He tried to ignore that feeling of Trouble niggling in the back of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kasamatsu will later look back on this day as the one in which somebody signed him up to deal with the rest of the Generation's crazy.


	6. She Makes the Regulars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kasamatsu said she'd earn her spot, and he didn't lie.

Her reputations had beaten her to the gym.

Kasamatsu could tell who had heard what about her by their expressions when she walked in, late, he noted with no small amount of irritation. Those who’d heard about her brutal skill with Teikou looked at her with fear, anyone who’d actually faced the Generation of Miracles scrambled out of her way. The ones who heard about the charming young model with three photobooks currently in stores smiled at her warmly. But the seniors who’d heard both, and the absolute truth of the former from Yukio himself, looked at her with a question in their eyes.

Coach arranged all of them, Kasamatsu included, into scrimmage teams. The process can take up to a week, Takeuchi will watch the games and hand pick the players who advance past the cuts. The final score of the scrimmage doesn’t matter, not at this early stage.

When the whistle blew, the model and fashion darling Kise Ryouta was gone, and a monster wearing her skin was left. Yukio let himself think for a moment that the monster was more striking, but then he thought of the brightness of her smile when she’d arrived at the gym, and couldn’t decide, a voice in his head murmured _teammate_ and he stopped trying to.

She _annihilated_ everyone who tried to stop her, and left her scrimmage team scrambling to catch up.

Yukio had told her that she’d needed to earn her place on the starters, and he hadn’t lied…

…But once he saw her eyes gleam like a predator and her smile go sharp he did not doubt she would earn it. 


	7. Kise Vs Kagami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riko makes a slight strategic error when she chases Kise out.

When Riko tried to chase Kise Ryouta out of her gym, she made a slight strategic error.

 

Namely, letting the blonde escape onto the court rather than out the side door.

 

The boys closest to the door ground to an immediate halt. She smiled winsomely at them, "So you're Kurokocchi's teammates!"

 

"Get out!" Riko howled at her, Kise ignored her in favor of watching the boys around her keenly, not bad, she judged, but nowhere near the level Kurokocchi seemed to think them. Kuroko edged around the girls and caught sight of Kagami-kun pausing his own practice at the commotion. Recognition spread across his face and Tetsuya moved to cut him off.

 

"Kagami-kun."

 

"Geh!" the taller boy jumped, "Kuroko! Knock that off!"

 

"Don't challenge her. She's not as harmless as she makes herself out to be."

 

Kagami's grin was feral, "Good." He started to make his way across the court.

 

"Why are you here, Kise-san?" Hyuga was asking her as they approached.

 

"Hmm? Oh, I came to see my boyfriend, of course," she smiled gamely into the team's collective shock.

 

"We're not dating, Kise-san," Kuroko informed her in a way that spoke of much repetition.

 

She pouted at her former teammate, "But we could be..."

 

"I'm afraid I must decline." His teammates pounced on the rejection immediately; Hyuga actually got the younger boy in a headlock while berating him, with most everyone else throwing their two cents in (mostly about how Kuroko was crazy to refuse her and a few offers to take her out themselves) and Riko angrily trying to restore order.

 

Kagami walked up to her as she observed the chaos with a carefully clueless expression, "Yo. You're a member of the Generation of Miracles, right?"

 

Kise blinked prettily up at him. "Yes, I am." She was matter-of-fact about it though her laugh was self-deprecating, "I'm the weakest of them though."

 

He tossed a ball at her, "One on one, you and me."

 

She looked him up and down; he was certainly the most promising out of the team, though that wasn't saying much, in her opinion. Her eyes narrowed shrewdly before she could check the impulse,  _Is this Kurokocchi's new light?_ "All right," she agreed, mostly to see if Kuroko had seen something she couldn't. Her hand went to her uniform's ribbon and tugged it loose, it wasn't perfect, but it would do to keep her hair back. She shrugged off her blazer and tucked her sunglasses into its pocket. "Please be gentle with me," she simpered with a pleading moue.

 

He grinned eagerly, "Not a chance."

 

Ryouta began pulling her hair back mutely and cast another eye over him. Perhaps she was losing her touch, she kept running into boys immune to her charms. Or maybe, she allowed, there was something about the sport that attracted boys like that, teetering somewhere between no sexuality and possibly fay, boys like Midorimacchi, Kurokocchi, and Kasamatsu-senpai.

 

"Kagami-kun, this is a bad idea," Kuroko tried from the headlock.

 

Riko tried to protest, "Hold on, you can't just barge in here, disrupt our practice, and  _keep disrupting it_!"

 

Even as the protests continued, Kise finished with her hair, and the pair moved to the half court's center. "Wait a minute," somebody realized, torn between horror and reverence, "her  _uniform_..." Everyone in earshot choked and Riko tried again to stop them, but before she could Kagami stole the ball from Kise's hands and rocketed for the hoop.

 

"He's got her," Izuki breathed, even as she caught up with her opponent, "he used this against me."

 

Kuroko saw the smirk playing on Kise-san's face, "Kagami-kun, don't!"

 

It was too late, Kagami made the turn around, gleeful and half disbelieving as he leapt for the hoop. His hand felt light...  _what?_ She had eeled her way between him and the net, stealing the ball back and making for the opposite hoop, before his hand had made it halfway to dunking position.

 

Kagami landed heavily, and tore after her. "He'll catch her," Furihata said confidently. Kagami was almost upon her already. "She wants him to," Kuroko said sadly, slipping from the captain's grip.

 

Kagami darted in front of her, and seemingly stood still as she used his own maneuver against him. He recovered quickly, but not enough to stop her, not enough to keep from being completely outclassed by her. Kagami knelt on the gym floor, dimly aware of her scoffing at him and walking away, too caught up in her power.  _She's the weakest of them?_  he thought,  _Amazing._

 

"Come to Kaijou," she was wheedling, "we can play together again, Kurokocchi."

 

Kuroko bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry, Kise-san, I've made a promise to Kagami-kun, that we'd be the best in Japan."

 

"You really think you have a shot at number one _here_? When  _that"_ she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "was the best you had to offer?"

 

From behind her Kagami laughed, sounding half crazed, "You know?" he asked, "I'm suddenly even more excited for this."

 

_Well_  she admitted privately  _this is new._

 


	8. An Outside Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the practice match, Seirin reacts to KiKasa and that whole... thing...
> 
> Or
> 
> Hyuga has a lot to learn, Izuki has doubts, and Kuroko thinks everything's fine.

 

 

Hyuga supposed that he should have expected to see a few of Kise’s fans at her school, but the yelling when she stepped out to play still surprised him. “What the-?”

Kaijou’s captain just groaned, “This always happens when she plays…”

“Kise-san!” someone yelled, “Do your best!” She waved cheerfully calling thanks to her supporters, unaware of her captain stalking up behind her.

His hand shot out to fist in her ponytail, pulling her into an awkward looking back bend. “Stop. Waving. At. Them,” he snarled.

“But Senpai, that would be rude!” she protested.

“WHO GIVES A DAMN!” he barked, “They shouldn’t even _be_ here! I told you to get rid of them!”

“They joined the club…” Kise explained meekly. Kasamatsu twitched visibly.

“Oi, Kasamatsu!” someone else called, “Don’t be so rough with her!”

“Yeah,” another voice added, “Kise-san’s delicate!”

Shoving her back upright, the captain addressed the onlookers directly, “Delicate my ass!” Kise watched the spectacle avidly with her hands clasped behind her back while Kasamatsu railed against the fanclub.

Hyuga just blinked, feeling rather outclassed by the various threats and invectives being hurled by the third year.

 

\-------------

 

Izuki observed the interaction between Kaijou’s ace and captain with some trepidation. Kise had made some remark or other into the silence following Kasamatsu’s diatribe against her fans, and was now having her ear twisted with what looked like great prejudice. “He’s… really rough with her isn’t he?” he asked the Kaijou shooting guard with something akin to dawning horror.

The taller boy snorted, “Oh please, Kise’s totally the favorite.”

Izuki glanced to where Kasamatsu had just swatted the girl upside the head, “Are you sure about that?”

“He has _never_ kicked her.”

Izuki was not reassured.

 

\-------------

 

Kagami-kun eyed Kise-san and her captain warily, “Is that okay?”

Kuroko nodded sagely, “I believe so, Kise-san flourishes under tough love.”

Kasamatsu wacked her again. “You sure?”

“If nothing else, she is perfectly capable of stopping him.”

“Doesn’t mean she will.”

Kuroko stared at the quarrelsome captain and listened to Kise-san’s heavily dramatized wailing. Kasamatsu pulled her close and murmured something to her. Conspiring looks bloomed on both their faces. “I believe they’ll be fine, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko asserted.


	9. Kise Tries to Make Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise needs some female friends. Riko is Not Interested.

Two days after the practice match Kuroko received an e-mail asking for his coach’s phone number.

He considered the ramifications carefully for a few minutes before providing the number. If he was careful he could avoid the initial anger when she realized.

 

Practice at Serin was wrapping up a few days later when Riko’s cell phone vibrated in her skirt pocket. The number was unknown so she answered with caution, praying for a simple wrong number, “Hello?”

“Riko-senpai! You’ll never guess what I have in my hands right now!”

“Er,” she stammered that voice was familiar. A girl’s, bright and bubbly…

Oh no.

“I got a spa offer! Two for one! We can get massages, and facials, oooh there’s even a special exfoliating treatment!” Kise gushed, “We should go!”

“Wait, how did you get this number?!” she demanded irritably.

“Eh? Kurokocchi gave it to me, of course,” the younger girl replied, “but that doesn’t matter! Riko-senpai, I need to make an appointment if we want to go! How booked are your Sundays?”

Riko wasn’t listening; she’d rounded on where the freshmen should have been cleaning the gym to find one of their number missing. “Where is Kuroko-kun?” she demanded. The other four glanced among themselves, startled once again at Kuroko’s absence.

“That bastard!” Kagami swore, “He didn’t even finish his part!”

“Find him!” She ordered, before turning back to her phone, “Kise-kun, it sounds lovely, but wouldn’t you rather invite one of your other friends?”

“…Oh,” Kise said quietly, “Yeah, I guess I could… I just…” she trailed off.

Uncertain now, Riko asked hesitantly, “Just what?”

“Oh!” The voice rebounded to its usual peppy level, “I just thought you could use it! Especially the exfoliating.” Riko felt a vein throb. “I hear this treatment’s supposed to leave your skin feeling like the day you were born! But you’re right, senpai, I’ll ask someone else. Sorry to bother you!”

The line went dead. “Sheesh,” she tucked her phone back into her pocket, “What a brat…”

“Coach!” Kagami called out triumphantly, dragging a struggling Kuroko-kun with him. The other three had their own strong grips to prevent escape. Smug, Riko pointed to the floor in front of her and had her phantom player deposited at her feet. Kagami-kun even stood guard, more to keep the other boy from skipping out on cleaning duty again, but it helped.

Riko was all set to loom over her freshman threateningly when he asked blandly. “What plans did Kise-san make with you, Coach?”

Riko scowled at him, “It was a two for one spa day, but the real question is: why does she have my number, Kuroko-kun?”

“She asked for it. Are you two going on Sunday?”

“What? No,” off-balance now, she tried to glare again, “I don’t appreciate you giving your ex-teammate my number just so she can poke fun at me.”

Kagami looks confused, “How is a spa day poking fun?”

“Obviously she doesn’t actually want me to go,” she explained. “I told her to ask one of her other friends.”

“I’ve gathered that Momoi-san prefers her homemade spa treatments,” Kuroko interjected, “She wouldn’t have been interested.”

Riko huffed, “Then she should have asked one of her other friends. But-“ she tried to move on with her lecture.

“Kise-san doesn’t have any other friends, not female ones anyway.”

Riko called her back.

She assigned Kise the most annoying ringtone she had.

But she called back.


	10. Study Sessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise doesn't much care for school work. Midorima will make her care if he has to drag her there kicking and screaming.
> 
> AKA the studying montage.

Kise had barely made first string when her academic eligibility was in jeopardy. Akashi had stared at the pile of tests for a long time, slowly shifting through them, history, biology, math, Japanese, English, angry red marks stood out on all of them.

 

She squirmed anxiously in the deathly stillness of the club room, while Aomine braced himself for another grueling round of Satsuki's patented Dai-chan cram sessions. Haizaki yawned, he had his own methods for staying eligible...

 

"Ryouta, you will be studying with Shintaro from now on," Akashi announced.

 

Her head dropped. "Yes, Akashicchi," she said meekly.

 

Midorima grimaced but nodded as well, "I'll need your schedule, Kise." She nodded, eyeing her new tutor warily, trying to gauge how best to wriggle her way out of the book work.

 

\--------------------

 

She was not going to be able to wriggle out of the book work.

 

Midorima took her schedule and penciled a study session into every slot he could, telling her in no uncertain terms that missing one of the sessions without notice would see her bumped back to second string.

 

She frowned and slid her hand across the table towards his own as she slumped in disappointment, "That seems... excessive, Midorimacchi." She tossed a flirty smile at him, "Surely there's something else we can do..." her fingers toyed with his taped ones.

 

"What are you doing?" he frowned back.

 

She straightened up, "Studying, evidently."

 

"We'll start with biology."

 

"Oh, come on, I'm awful at biology!"

 

"Exactly. That's where we'll need to spend the most time, now, the parts of the cell are-"

 

\---------------

 

"I'm home," Mirorima announced.

 

"Sorry for intruding," Kise chimed right behind him, glancing around the house. It was farther from school than she'd expected. It was a modest home, two trains from Teikou, and virtually pristine. There was a doll lying on the coffee table but other than that, absolutely no clutter. She nudged her teammate, "Is that a lucky item?" she wondered as she toed off her shoes.

 

A quick glance and Midorimacchi snorted, "Don't be ridiculous, it's my sister's."

 

"Eeeeh?" she gasped, "Midorimacchi has a sibling?" Her mind conjured her teammate in miniature, stern expression, glasses, taped fingers and all. She shivered, "That's terrifying."

 

Midorima was halfway into the living room, "Are you finished being ridiculous?" He stooped to pick up the doll, and pattering feet announced the arrival of the fabled sister.

 

To Kise's gaze a blur made predominantly of blue-green hair and ruffles careened into her classmate's legs with a happy squeal of, "Welcome home, Taro-nii!" To his credit, Midorimacchi did not stumble and the blur resolved itself in to a little girl of around six, though Ryouta allowed considering her sibling she could be a tall four year old. She wore a cute pale yellow dress that offset her dark hair and a wide, happy smile. Her eyes were the same green as her brother's with the same long eyelashes, but hers were big doe eyes that shone with laughter.

 

"Kyaa! Midorimacchi she's so cute!"

 

The siblings jumped in surprise at her volume, and the girl's already large eyes bugged, "Kaa-saaaan!" she wailed, tearing out of the room, "Taro-nii brought a  _girl_ home!"

 

Midorimacchi's withering glare made Kise wonder if he'd been taking notes from Akashicchi. He jerked his head in the direction his sister had gone, "Come on, she'll want to meet you."

 

Midorima-san was just as severe looking as her son, she stood in her kitchen like a queen holding court. Her long blue hair was pulled into a simple bun and she wore simple, serviceable slacks and blouse. The little girl was tucked behind her legs, shyly peering out. "Shintaro-kun, you didn't say we were having a guest."

 

"Okaa-san, this is Kise Ryouta-san, she's a new basketball club member. I'll be tutoring her in order to maintain her athletic eligibility for the foreseeable future," Midorimacchi explained.

 

Ryouta bowed, it seemed appropriate. "Please regard me kindly," she intoned, that also seemed appropriate. Though she also seemed to be ignored.

 

Midorima-san arched an elegant brow, "Basketball club?" Midorima-san looked at her now, and Kise wished she'd thought to smarten up her uniform in the hallway, her skirt was still rolled and she’d tied her sweater around her waist after practice. Midorima-san frowned at her, "Have I seen you somewhere before, Kise-kun?"

 

"Um, I do some modeling..." the little girl was edging around her shelter as Midorimacchi held out the doll to her. Midorima-san's frown deepened and Kise found herself afraid to look away from the woman.

 

"Saki this is Kise," Midorimacchi introduced the girl, who now hugged her doll tightly, his voice broke the staring contest as Kise smiled at the girl, Saki apparently.

 

Saki beamed back, "Taro-nii never said he had pretty friends!"

 

"I think 'friends' is overly generous," Midorimacchi told her, flatly.

 

Kise knelt to Saki's eye level. "Well, your Nii-san never told  _me_  he had such a cute sister," she shared conspiratorially. "I think he's kind of silly like that."

 

Saki giggled, and Ryouta's heart melted.

 

Midorimacchi sighed, "Come on, Kise, you have math homework." She groaned.

\----------------

 

She groaned again and would have slumped across the table in Midorimacchi's bedroom if Saki's tiny hands weren't busy putting as many hair ornaments as she could fit in her, air-dried because  _someone_  refused to wait for her to blow-dry it, hair.

 

Midorimacchi poured more tea, "Now what?" She could  _see_  his patience wearing thin and she certainly didn't want to go back to second-string, getting to first would feel too much like a fluke then, but this just-

 

"This isn't working, Midorimacchi. I'm terrible at school, I always have been, I hate studying, I can't focus in class cause it's so  _boring_  and-"

 

"What is the problem right now?" Midorima interrupted.

 

She shoved her algebra at him, "I checked the answer but it doesn't match, and I can't figure out what I did wrong!"

 

"Walk me through what you did," he ordered, handing it back and shifting around the table to read it with her.

 

She huffed, "We're supposed to isolate the letter right?"

 

"The variable, yes."

 

"Okay so  _I_ took-"

 

\--------------

 

They took a break in the middle of their English review to tuck Saki into bed after she fell asleep against Kise's back. They lingered in her room as Kise carefully pulled the pins and clips from her hair. "Now I know how  _my_  sisters felt," she joked.

 

"You don't have to humor her," Midorimacchi advised, watching her struggle with a particularly elaborate butterfly clip.

 

"Oh I don't mind," Ryouta assured him, "she's a real sweetheart. It's nice to feel like the Nee-san for once."

 

"How many sisters do you have?"

 

"Just the two, but there's six years between me and the middle child." She deposited the ornaments into his hands to put away and stifled a yawn. "How much longer do you think?"

 

"I'll walk you to the station."

 

"In an hour?" she asked hopefully.

 

"We've covered the important things. English isn't what Akashi's concerned about, you've been scoring high enough orally that it's not weighing your class standing down," he shut the box of ornaments and led her back to his room.

 

"Are you letting me go early?" she mock gasped.

 

"Ten-thirty is not early," Midorimacchi pointed out. "Don't forget to review your notes for your quiz tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regards to the age gap between Kise and her sisters: Mr and Mrs Kise weren't expecting that third child...
> 
> Also my mental Saki looks a lot like Wendy Marvel from Fairy Tail but with more green in her coloring.


	11. The Hit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the practice match, Ryouta feels guilty.

She felt the impact against her hand, but its importance did not register immediately. She heard the thud of his body before it clicked and she felt herself freeze.

_Kurokocchi…_ she thought worriedly, _he’s… bleeding…_

Senpai approached her gingerly, “It was an accident.”

Kagami and Kurokocchi’s captain managed to rouse their teammate, only for him to fall again.

“…I… know…”

“Having him on the bench makes life easier for us,” Kasamatsu admitted, “but it’s a lousy way for him to go out.”

“I guess.”

“Check your hands, if you need to wash up-“

Ryouta didn’t hear the rest, too absorbed in checking for Kurokocchi’s blood on her hands.

There wasn’t any, but it almost felt like there should have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really short one, but about what I imagined would have gone on in canonKise's head too.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd really appriciate feedback on this universe. I have bits from here and there in the timeline, but am only current with the anime. Con crit and requests are accepted but I make no guarantees about requests making it into Legally Blonde Canon.


End file.
